In recent years, there has been a dramatic upsurge in the popularity of electronic communication in business and home applications. The number of networks and the volume of data continue to increase at a rapid rate. To cope with the ever-increasing demand for faster, more secure and more far-reaching networks, a variety of network appliances are being used to meet these demands.
As useful as they are, however, network appliances are vulnerable to hijacking or corruption. A security breach could inhibit or disrupt the intended function of a network appliance. Even worse, a security breach may disrupt an entire network in which the network appliance is installed. Network appliances do not have a readily available user interface for a system administrator to interact with it. As a result, it is difficult for a system administrator to ascertain whether a network appliance has been compromised.
Even when an interface with the network appliance is established, the active participation of a system administrator is required to adequately protect the network appliance from being invaded by unauthorized processes. Manual intervention on the part of the administrator knowledgeable in the detailed operation of the network appliance is often required to detect and repair security breaches and misappropriation of resources. It is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.